BLOCK: “There were other young men in the room that stopped it,” said O’Neill, who called their bravery “terrific.” …

“There was some back and forth between the two of them and the older boy hit the younger boy’s ankles and lower legs with a belt,” O’Neill said. “It’s a shame — just a moment of terrible bad judgment. He just didn’t use his head.”

Meanwhile, the entire sordid affair has cast a pall over Ruddy’s previous bright future with the Mansfield football program, following a season in which the squad reached the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Division . The rising senior was selected to be a captain of the 2013 team and was expected to lead out the Hornets throughout the fall season.

Now, the more essential question is whether he’ll even be allowed to pad up with his teammates himself.